A Dec. 6 letter writer wrote, “This country is not a constitutional republic, that is a Republican term. This nation is a constitutional democracy.” He is entirely wrong.

Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution, the original contract between the people, the states and the federal government reads in part “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government .”

What is the distinction and why is it important? Once we have gone from the rule of tyrants and monarchs to the idea that governments are legitimate only if they represent the will of the people, we must decide where and how the will of the people is to be found. In a democracy, the will of the majority is the rule, and the locus of control or sovereignty is in the 51 percent, the individual is subject to the majority. In a republic the locus of control is the individual, who remains sovereign even after delegating some authority to the government.

Since I was born as an individual and not merely a member of some herd or ethnic group, I am decidedly in favor of the republican form of government.

The other issue needing rebuttal is letters in which Republicans are blamed for everything. Corruption in our government is truly bipartisan, and we can spend much effort in claiming the other side is more at fault but that is not useful.

Recognize that the D and R labels don’t mean much – we have to learn what individual candidates have actually done and not just what they have said. Both parties and both houses of Congress abdicated their responsibilities over our financial system (Article 1, Section 8) to the Federal Reserve, which has created over $7 trillion out of nothing since 2009 alone.

Ron Paul is the only candidate who warned of the impending financial crisis in 2008; he is the only one who knows enough about the financial system to help design a new one, and electing him will do more good than either Occupy protests or Tea Party meetings.